Christmas Time is Here
by cloudsword
Summary: Sassy and Shadows have an unexpected guest staying with them during the holidays.  Read and REVIEW!


**Bolt Warrior's Soul**

**Side Story: Christmas Time is Here**

**Bolt and all its characters belong to Disney not me.**

**(This story takes place between Birthday Girl and My Valentine)**

Snow piled up on the streets, and children rolled it up into giant balls to build snow men, or throw them at others. The mood all around the streets of New York radiated with both stress and happiness. From the safety of a decrepit building, a large jet black cat sat there watching as the humans scurried by, searching for a perfect gift or someone they were playing with. 'Sassy's going to be mad if I'm late getting back to the building.' he thought to himself. He stayed to watch some more as children ran by, chasing each other. He jumped down to begin his trip home, contrasting with the white snow, and showing up like a sore thumb. He walked along what he thought was the sidewalk for almost an hour when the wind began to pick up drastically. He quickly ducked into a nearby ally way, and shook off his fur, and the cold. Without looking up, he turned around to wait until the gust died down, only to hear a quiet sniffle from behind him. Shadows turned his head to look at what made the minute noise that humans couldn't hear. What he saw was a shivering pile of colorful blanket patches wrapped up in the corner of the ally. At first he thought nothing of it, but then it sniffled again, almost like a crying sniffle. His curiosity peeked, and he actually made his way to see what actually was shaking. What he saw was an eight year old girl with Fire red pig tail braids trailing down the sides of her head. Her skin was slightly blue almost hiding the freckles on her cheeks. Frozen tears clung to her face, and the thick blanket was obviously not doing its job very well. His heart softened for the little girl, and he moved forward to get a closer look, even her lips were blue in this cold weather. "Hey!" he whispered. The girl slowly opened her eyes to reveal the same green that he remembered Sassy having. "You alright?" he asked, and the girl's eyes opened wide in fright before she attempted to back away from him. "Wow wow!" he said out loud, trying to get her to calm down, "I'm not going to hurt you." "What are you?" the girl asked, she had a typical eight year old girls voice. "I'm a cat!" Shadows said to her. "Cats don't talk!" she reasoned, "Well I do, and I know two more that talk as well." he said in a smart alike tone. "Really?" she asked. "Yup." he beamed proudly, "Names Shadows!" "M-Marry!" she said shyly. "So what are you doing here, Marry?" he asked. "I'm trying to find my mom and dad." she told him simply. "But I got lost." she admitted. "Lost huh?" he surmised. "Yah, it's a tradition for me to go visit them every year before Christmas so I can wish them a happy holiday." she said and began shivering again. "Well, do you know where they are?" Shadows asked. "In a graveyard somewhere, I can't remember." she told him and her tears began to flow again. Shadows had nothing to say after that, he just looked at her in shock. 'Maybe Sassy will have an answer for this.' he thought to himself and he heard the wind as it died down, "Hey why don't you follow me Marry? I've got a nicer place than this for you to sleep, and you can meet one of those other talking cats." Marry at first didn't look to sure, but slowly she lifted herself up to follow behind him. The shoes she wore were ragged and nearly destroyed, but they seemed to be holding up just a little.

The journey to the abandoned apartment building was roughly uneventful. No one even took a glance at the eight year old child. 'What a bunch of selfish idiots.' he thought to himself, 'Won't even look at the girl.' When he reached the building he jumped I through a broken window before trotting over and jumping up to turn one of the door handles and let the girl in. "Sassy I'm home!" he shouted as he neared one of the rooms with a missing number. "Just a second." he heard her shout, and the door cracked open a few inches to let him in. Peeking his head through the door, he saw the entire apartment furnished with decorations, and a fire burning in the fire place across the living room. "What the?" he asked, and noticed Sassy, a white cat with black fur on her feet and chest, hovering In the air hanging garland around a fully decorated Christmas tree he knew wasn't there this morning. "Surprise." she called out when she turned to him, "Marry Christmas!" What he noticed was that the air was warm, and comfortable, thanks to the fire, and the Christmas decorations she had put up were bright and shiny, inviting all into the room. Sassy finished up her decorations and touched down right in front of him, "Welcome home Shadows." she said before looking up and behind him to see the little girl. "Who's she?" she asked. "Her name is Marry, I found her all bundled up in an ally way." No sooner had he said that, then Sassy, in an unusual burst of happiness, used her paws to throw the door open and usher the girl inside, "Oh you poor dear, you must be chilled to the bone. Here sit down and warm yourself by the fire." "Hey…Wha?" Shadows asked, trying to keep up with Sassy's upbeat attitude. He watched as the girl and blanket knelt down in front of the fire, with Sassy urging her to make herself comfortable. "What's going on Sassy? You're acting like something good just happened." he said as he entered the room. "Shadows would you be a gentle cat and close the door?" she asked. "What…Oh! Yah sure!" he said, and turned to do just that. Shadows turn around again and spotted Sassy as she ran into the bedroom, probably to make sure the bed was properly quilted. With this in mind, he followed her, "Sassy, are you ok?" he asked. "Yah, why?" she asked in response as she pawed the covers, making sure they were thick enough. "You're acting kind of strange." he admitted. "How's that?" she asked without turning to him. "Well, you were nice…to the girl…without getting to know her." he observed. Sassy stopped, before turning around to gaze at him with her good right eye, "When I was walking around, I noticed a lot of people shivering in the cold, while others rushed by without offering any kind of help, but then one small boy walked up to a complete stranger, and gave him the money he had in his pocket. It wasn't much, but the stranger smiled, it was the brightest smile I'd ever seen. I kind of want to see it again, maybe on someone else." she admitted and turned to go back to what she was doing. Shadows sat there, befuddled and amazed. He had never seen this side of Sassy, even when she denounced her 'Bolt' obsession right in front of him. The kind of care she showed, was quite a sight to see, and it made him smile on both the inside and the out. "Let me help." he offered and jumped up to the bed, to make sure the pillows were soft enough.

Both of them walked out of the room and spied the girl, with the quilt around her waist, and drinking a hot cup of coco. The cloths she wore were a decently intact light green turtleneck and adorable little hot pink jeans with blue shoes that looked quite worn with pink green and blue striped grey wool socks, "Where'd she get the coco?" Sassy asked in surprise, she knew that the cupboards were bare for all except mice. Marry turned to look at the cats as they walked up to her. "I found a box of Coco in the back of the cupboard. Grandma taught me how to make it." she told them. Sassy let her eyes open wide, before turning around and heading towards the kitchen, "Is she ok?" Marry asked. "I think so, she's the only one who's ever been in the kitchen." Shadows replied before turning to the girl, "Is it good?" he asked, referring to the hot Coco. "The best." she smiled and took another sip. Sassy finally reentered into the room to join them. "We have hot Coco!" she said in pure surprise. "Are you making some?" Shadows asked. "I can make you some!" Marry said and shot up to run into the kitchen. "She seems better already." Shadows said to the still surprised Sassy. "We didn't have anything before, how did that get there?" she asked still on the fact that she had found a container of hot Coco in a previously barren cupboard. "Maybe she brought it with her, you know, in the quilt." Shadows told her, and she bought it. "Yah, you're right." she said, relaxing entirely. Just at that moment Marry walked back in with two small bowls of hot Coco. "Hope you enjoy it." she said as she set the bowls down in front of them. "Careful, their hot."

The rest of the day went by like a dream, and when Shadows woke up the next morning, he was surprised to find himself snuggled close to both Sassy and Marry in the bed. Marry had been tucked deep into the covers, and looked comfortable laying on the mattress and Sassy looked content curled up against him, pinning him between the two girls. Shadows took what time he had by himself, to look around the room, which he found to be a big surprise. The actual room he remembered, or thought he remembered had been bare of decorations. But this morning he found it lined with garland, and snowflake vinyl stickers. The color that surrounded him was obviously Christmas oriented. Looking down, he noticed that the comforter was also different; it had various Christmas trees all over it. 'When did we get this?' he thought to himself, but ended up brushing it off when Sassy shifted to snuggle closer to him. Turning back to the blanket, he thought he noticed a picture of mistletoe, but when he did a double take, it was gone. "Go back to sleep." Sassy said sleepily, her voice tickled his fur and caused him to softly chuckle. "Can't, sun's up." he replied. With that, Sassy slowly opened her left eye and looked up. "Using your blind eye isn't fair Sassy. It's blind!" he said in a chuckle. Sassy chuckled in reply and opened her right eye, her good eye. "Merry Christmas!" she said to him. "Bah, humbug." he teased. They were interrupted when they heard Marry giggle from her place in the bed. "You said yesterday that your parents were dead, so who do you live with?" Shadows asked her, trying to get as much out of her as possible. "My Grandpa and Grandma, they're real nice." she said to him. "Uh huh, and where do your Grandparents live?" Sassy continued for him. "I don't know, I forgot." Marry admitted. "Why aren't they with you?" Shadows asked, "They used to go with me every year, but this year they got too busy so I came out on my own. It's Oh Kay though, every year they hand out toys to children, and I get to see all the happy faces." she explained, her excitement rising as she talked. "We've got to find her grandparents and return her to them." Shadows said, breaking up the excitement. "Maybe they can come here for Christmas!" Marry said in even more excitement. With that in mind, she jumped out of bed, still in her cloths from yesterday, and ran to the living room, in her wool socks. Sassy smiled as she watched the eight year old girl run off, and Shadows noticed, "I'll take her around town for a few hours to see if we can't find her grandparents." he said. "What am I supposed to do?" Sassy asked. Shadows smiled gently, but she could see a hardy laugh behind it, "Christmas Shopping!"

As Shadows walked around trying to find Marry's Grandparents, Sassy found herself inside the mall, hugging the wall, trying to find gifts for both Shadows and Marry. With no money, she was wondering just how she would get anything, even though steeling wasn't below her. She traveled through the entire mall, keeping to the shaded edges and letting her chameleon fur hide her from the eyes of all. 'I'm so glad I practiced this trick.' she thought to herself, and continued to the food court. Everywhere she went had the same thing, nothing but people rushing back and forth to buy whatever they wanted or needed. In the center, she saw other people, smiling and chatting with each other, acting as a family. Sassy found herself wishing she had what they had, just one chance to be a part of something more than what she was now. She was brought out of her revere when a roll of money, suddenly hit the ground in front of her, as soon as she was brought back to reality, she grabbed the roll of bills, and tucked it under herself silently. "Now see what you did?" a young boy shouted. "That was all you. Now go find it, we need to by dad's Christmas gift." his sister called out. "Dad said we could buy whatever **we** wanted." the boy argued with his sister. "**We **are here to get a present for Dad, not us!" she retorted. "That's what you think, I'm getting that new Video game console." the boy told his sister, and was the first to show up to look for the roll of cash. He looked pre teens, and had two cheeks full of freckles. Sassy stayed as still as possible, letting her chameleon fur hide not just her but the roll of money. "Where is it?" the boy asked as he continued to look for the money, and his sister appeared alongside him to help. "You lost it?" she asked. "No I didn't, you knocked it out of my hands." the boy argued, "Maybe it rolled over to the trash cans." "UHG! You're just a selfish jerk!" the sister shouted as he walked away. "Psst!" Sassy whispered. The girl turned her eyes to where she knew the sound had come from. "Who's there?" she asked. "Let's just say I'm an angel." Sassy whispered to her, "I might have something of yours, but you must answer me one question." she asked. "What?" the girl continued. "Were you really going to buy a present for your father?" the invisible cat asked. "Yah, but I have no idea what." the girl admitted. "What does your Dad do?" Sassy asked in curiosity. "He builds houses." she told the 'angel' and began thinking, "You know, he really needs a new nail gun, and with the money he gave us, I could buy him one of the best ones." "Talking to yourself again?" her brother scoffed. She quickly turned around and snapped at him, "Unlike you, I'm thinking of gifts for Dad when I find that money." "When **I **find the money, you won't have any to spend." the brother snapped back, and took off to go find what he sought. "Sorry little angel, he's such a selfish jerk." she said. Sassy needed to think about what she was going to say, what an angel would say, "Don't think bad about him, instead show him the true meaning of Christmas." she finally said and presented the roll of money, making it seem to her as if it simply appeared out of nowhere. The girl was shocked at first, but quickly regained her composure and snatched up the money. "Thank you little angel." the girl said in excitement. "Remember you said you were going to buy the nail gun." Sassy reminded her. "I am, how can I thank you?" the girl asked. Suddenly Sassy had an 'angelic' idea.

When Sassy returned to the apartment, she just knew that all four of her paws were frozen. So when she pushed against the door to open it, she was happy to see the fire place lit up with a roaring fire. She quickly closed the door and ran to plop down next to it and warm not just her paws, but her fur as well. "Oh yes!" she said in comfort. "All you need now is a ball of blue yarn." she heard Shadows comment, and a ball of blue yarn rolled right by her. "Har har!" she said, not wanting to move. She was surprised when a bowl of chicken broth was slid in front of her, and it was still steaming. "Where?" she asked. "An old lady gave Marry a box of Chicken Broth and told her how to mix it. It's pretty good actually." he explained. "Was it her grandma?" Sassy asked. "Unfortunately no." he said bowing his head, and Marry almost literally bounced out of the kitchen, holding a plate of something that tempted Sassy's nose. "That smells like Tuna!" she said dreamily. "It is, the old lady also gave her two cans of Tuna for us." Shadows told her, at the same moment the plate was placed in front of her. Sassy wasted no time in beginning her meal, she took as big a bite as she could from the plate of fish, and gulped it down quickly. Minutes later, they all heard a knock at the door of the apartment, "I'll get it!" Shadows called out and went to go look, only to find a teddy bear with a message addressed to Marry attached to a string around it's arm. Shadows grabbed the bear gently with his mouth and dragged it into the apartment. "Package for you Marry!" he said after putting it down. The moment Marry looked up at the bear, she squealed with joy and ran to grab both Shadows and the bear in one fell swoop. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hollered as she hugged him and the toy tightly. "It wasn't my idea." he choked out, and they both glanced at a smiling Sassy. 'Looks like she came through after all.' she thought to herself. With that thought she continued to eat her tuna and broth. Just like the day before, the rest of the day slid by with laughter and games, almost as if it were a dream.

The next morning was Christmas Eve, Sassy was the first to wake up, the room they were sleeping in, looked exactly the way it use to, the vinyl snowflakes arranged so that they looked as if they were dancing on their way down the wall. The garland snaked its way across the ceiling and wall. Even Marry and her soft snoring seemed to be in the same position. Sassy decided to finally rise from her sleep and jump off of the bed to begin her day. As she entered into the living room, she thought she noticed different things, but passed them off as figments of her imagination. She knew there weren't any lights on the tree, or she thought. What she did find, that surprised her, was a hot breakfast on the table. Three plates of bacon, eggs and three cold glasses of orange juice all placed on the table with holiday ginger cookies in the middle. Jumping up to the table, she just looked at the meal as if it would just disappear. "Mmmm! Something smells good!" she heard Shadows say from behind her. Sassy looked up to gaze at him, "Aw, Sassy you shouldn't have." he said and turned around to go wake Marry up. "But I didn't…" she started in confusion, but soon decided to let it go. Breakfast went well, talking about what they were going to do during the day. Sassy actually offered to take Marry looking for her Grandparents while Shadows checked the local stores to help search for more presents or even find her Grandparents. Unfortunately nothing. Not even a hint of Marry's grandparents. Shadows also proved even less effective at gathering gifts, he was always thrown or chased out. "Sorry we couldn't find your folks." Shadows apologized. "It's ok, I'm having so much fun and you two have been so nice!" Marry told him. "We'll find them soon sweetie." Sassy told her. The only thing Marry did was smile brightly.

That night should have been like any other night, except that Marry woke up minutes before midnight and slipped out of bed, waking up both Shadows and Sassy as she slipped out of the room. "She should be asleep." Sassy whispered. "You're acting like you want to be her mother." Shadows told her. She simply scowled at him and lifted her body, silently jumping out of bed. Shadows shrugged his shoulders and silently followed her. The two of them found the little human girl standing there in front of the fire place, hugging her teddy bear tightly. Sassy was just about to tell her that Santa wouldn't come if she was awake, but was interrupted when the clock struck midnight, and stopped completely. Almost instantly the fire in the fireplace went out, without even smoking. The only lights that could be seen were on the tree as they glittered and danced around. Quietly, silent bells started jingling in the pattern of movement, and a thumping came from on top of the roof, and Marry smiled brightly as everyone heard a "Ho, Ho, Ho!" echo from the chimney. When a short chubby man with a red suit and long puffy white beard touched down where the fire used to be, the two cats let their jaws nearly hit the floor. His smile looked as if it had been attached to his face since he was a child, and his rosy cheeks matched his cherry red nose. "GRANDPA!" Marry shouted and ran to hug the man. "Grandpa?" Shadows and Sassy said at the same time. "Santa Claus is your grandpa?" finished Shadows. "Yup!" she said with a smile. Santa belted out a jolly laugh, "So this is where you've been." he said, "Your grandmother and I have been very worried about you Marry Holiday!" "Sorry Grandpa, but when you said you were so busy, I…" she tried saying, but was silenced when the jolly old elf placed a finger up to her mouth. "Don't worry about that now, we're just happy to see you again." he told her right before he gave her a strong, tight hug. After releasing her and placing her on the floor, he then gently told her, "Now go up to the sleigh, I'll take you home after I make my rounds." Marry simply nodded and turned to face the two cats. "Thank you for everything, I had lots of fun." she said right before placing her finger against her nose and winking at them. The moment her eye closed, a certain magic happened, a star appeared on the top of the tree, even more lights lit up that weren't there before and a golden colored garland appeared on a wave of sparkles. Christmas stockings seemed to unfold from the mantle of the fireplace, with Sassy and Shadows written respectively. The room also filled up with the delicious smell of a perfectly cooked turkey dinner wafting from the kitchen. "Wha…" Shadows tried to say, but never got to ask properly because Marry vanished into what seemed to be golden fairy dust that wisped itself up the chimney and out of sight. Santa once again laughed before reaching up the chimney and pulling out a sack that was probably about as big as he was. "I've got some Christmas presents for the two of you, and something as thanks for looking after her." he said as he reached into his bag. "Uh…That's not necessary." Sassy told him. "Oh but it is!" he insisted and pulled out three good sized boxes. "If you gave me a sweater…" Shadows tried to say, but was again silenced when Sassy stepped on his paw, with her metallic claws drawn slightly so that they poked him. Santa simply laughed, "Don't worry Shadows, it's not a sweater, in fact it's something I know you'll like." he told the cat before standing. "But if she had your magic, why didn't she use it before?" Sassy asked. "Magic like that can only be used in excess when the holiday is at its best, Midnight of Christmas. Other than that, it can only be used for simple things, like spreading Christmas Cheer or, as she puts it, decorating a room." he replied before placing his own finger against his nose, and with a smile and a wink, he to rose up the chimney.

It seemed like an eternity, but finally the clock's second hand started up again. Sassy and Shadows had taken what time they had in that second and began their first Christmas feast. The turkey was indeed cooked perfectly, but about as big as it needed to be to feed them. Not only the turkey, but all of the fixings were there, and the two stuffed themselves before finally retiring to bed, again. "Merry Christmas Sassy!" Shadows whispered to her as they snuggled together under the thick patch blanket Marry had left. "Merry Christmas Shadows." she replied. From the sky, inside of a sleigh being driven by eight tinny reindeer, Marry whispered as she looked down at the broken down apartment, "Merry Christmas my friends." Santa then leaned in to tickle her cheek with his beard, "And to all a good night!"

Bolt and Mittens could only watch as their Kits, tore at the wrapping paper on their presents, and squealed when the saw exactly what they wanted. The morning was moving by quickly with all of the new toys and treats. Bolt, the pure white American shepherd, trotted happily alongside his mate Mittens, the black and white tuxedo cat. She too was smiling happily, she had just unwrapped the gift Bolt had gotten her, a beautiful knew collar with diamonds woven into the edges. Suddenly Mike stopped them, looking up at something on the door frame, "What is that Daddy?" he asked. Bolt pointed his nose to what he thought his son was looking at, and blushed. Mittens eyed Bolt before getting slightly impatient, "What?" she asked, and looked up to see herself. What she saw was a sprig of Mistletoe, hanging off of the door frame, right above them. "Mistletoe!" she whispered, and the two missed it as Mike, smiled before walking away. Bolt and Mittens looked at each other, and smiled. "It is tradition." Bolt reasoned, "For humans!" Mittens countered. "Who's to say it can't be for us?" Bolt asked, and kissed her right on the lips. Mittens sank into his kiss, day dreaming of the memories they had and the life that led them up to today, "I could get used to this." she whispered after Bolt released her, and he chuckled before they kissed again.

**The End.**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!**


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